Canada seeks ICC help over visa problems

Team Canada want to give a good account of themselves this World Cup, but they can't do so unless three of their key players are granted visa clearance by Indian authorities. Vice-captain Rizwan Cheema, Kurram Chohan and Hamza Tariq, all Pakistabn-born players, are yet to get the go ahead to join their team in India for the mega-event.

So serious is their predicament that the president of Cricket Canada, Ranjit Saini, has asked the ICC to step in and resolve the delay in granting the visas."We seek your kind help and attention to this matter in assisting our players to obtain their visa in Dubai, Dhaka or Colombo," Saini wrote in a letter to ICC president Sharad Pawar. "We also do hope that the ICC has contingency plans to ensure that the matches are played elsewhere if the visa will not be processed on time or rejected all together."

Canada made a preparatory trip to India in Nov and the visas were applied for prior to that. While the rest of the team had no trouble, the three Pakistan-born players were ruled out of the visit.

Canada will play practice matches against Ireland and Afghanistan as part of a 10-day training camp in Dubai before heading to Bangladesh for their two official warm-up games against Bangladesh and England. They will face Sri Lanka in their opening game of the tournament on February 20 and their first game in India is scheduled for February 28 against Zimbabwe.